Vanessa Fogg
@vanessafogg.bsky.social
Science fiction and fantasy writer. Also lapsed scientist and freelance medical writer. Website: vanessafogg.com
July is over, and I’ve got a round-up of the sci-fi and fantasy I read and reviewed over the course of the month, including a handful of short fiction recommendations that didn’t make it into my previous magazine reviews www.tarvolon.com/2026/08/02/j...
July 2026 Round-up and Short Fiction Miscellany - Tar Vol on
I've gone heavy on the short fiction this month, with a pair of Magazine Minis and my regular magazine review, alongside a couple of longer reviews from my
tarvolon.com
“SAUÚTI TERRORS is a great addition to what I hope is the growing Sauúti universe” @Gabino_Iglesias reviews new anthology edited by @genni.bsky.social, Cheryl Ntumy & @stephenembleton.bsky.social
Sauúti Terrors edited by Eugen Bacon, Cheryl Ntumy & Stephen Embleton: Review by Gabino Iglesias
Sauúti Terrors, Eugen Bacon, Cheryl Ntumy & Stephen Embleton, eds. (Flame Tree Collections 978-1-83562-640-5, $26.99, 416pp, hc) March 2026. Cover by Akintoba Kalejaye. When I’m not writing nov…
locusmag.com
Stories about stories are some of my favorite stories. I stayed up till 2 am last night finishing Nnedi Okorafor’s Death of the Author, a story about the power of stories. I’m blown away. The way she pulled off that ending? The way the two storylines converged? Amazing
I want to share the illustration they did for the story - The Teleporting Disaster Fairy, first published in Uncanny Magazine. This is just how I pictured Kittu! FYI, if you would like to read the original, it is available at www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-...
Elder daughter is home from college and made eggplant for dinner
The stories in our inaugural Best Of anthology are all wonderful! Including Somto Ihezue's award-winning "We Begin Where Infinity Ends", and so many more. Back us by visiting http://kck.st/4wtYJ6... or the link in our bio. #SFF #Booksky #backthebook #sciencefiction #fanstasy
Guess what? I've got an *extra* short fiction review this month! I took a look at a handful of stories from Adventitious, Kaleidotrope, and Reckoning. All had stories worth reading, with Reckoning in particular standing out: www.tarvolon.com/2026/07/27/t...
Tar Vol's Magazine Minis (Again!): Adventitious, Kaleidotrope, and Reckoning - Tar Vol on
Two Magazine Minis in a month? In this economy?
tarvolon.com
If you'd like to read a thick epic fantasy anchored in syncretic mythic retellings and with very Malaysian elements, do check Watermyth out!
Anita 🧜🏽♀️🏴☠️🪐@mythopoetica.bsky.social · 2y agoAn epic revisitation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche as seen through the eyes of a memory-wiped storytelling mermaid-siren living in a house-share with an automaton-building Javanese engineer with a traumatic past. 🧜♀️ #Booksky 💙 📚 #Romancelandia mythopoetica.com/2024/09/01/p...
i have a short story collection!!! spaceships with PTSD! scorpion people battle on the beach! lesbian mermaids! weird western fairy tales! transmasc werewolves! if you click here you can get a physical copy and also an ebook!
When I Was Lost - JournalStone
WHEN I WAS LOST “With some of the most beguiling prose this side of The Ladies of Grace Adieu, Jordan Kurella’s When I Was Lost conjures visions from beyond the fields we know. Majestic, often mournfu...
journalstone.com
Elias Eells- Bar Cart Bookshelf@eliaseells.bsky.social · 2mo agoMarket and publicize your backlist. Market and publicize your backlist. Market and publicize your backlist. Market and publicize your backlist. Market and publicize your backlist.
For dinner; cherry burrata salad, served with toasted ciabatta slices (recipe from Smitten Kitchen)
Happy mail day for me! My short story, “Remembering Day,” (first published in @unchartedmag.bsky.social ) is reprinted in this sleek issue of Black&Grey Magazine, guest-edited by the powerhouse team of @yiizzy.bsky.social and John Yu Branscum. Look at just some of this lineup!
I wrote about language, lying & world-building for the NYTBR as expressed in 3 extraordinary & very different books: THERE IS NO ANTIMEMETICS DIVISION by qntm, THE MISHEARD WORLD by Aliya Whiteley, & THE LANGUAGE OF LIARS by SL Huang.
New Science Fiction About Truth and Lies in an Age of War (Gift Article)
Three recent novels explore the use of deception by both invaders and the invaded.
nytimes.com
Just going to say here, I think I've said this before, a 'historically accurate' version of the Odyssey is not possible because the Odyssey does not take place in a historical setting - it takes place in a fantastical pastiche of four centuries, mixed in with gods and monsters.
Watcher Guru@watcher.guru · 2w agoJUST IN: Elon Musk says Grok will make a "full-length movie" of The Odyssey that is "historically accurate" by the end of this year.
The Summer 2026 issue of Kaleidotrope has now gone live at www.kaleidotrope.net, and if I do say myself, it's out of this world!
Therefore / call out to him over the open water, over the bright water / with your dark song, with your grasping / unnatural song — passionate, like María Callas. Who / wouldn’t want you? -Louise Glück, “Penelope’s Song” #everynightapoem
"I want readers to encounter the full and radical strangeness of what Buddhism, Taoism, and the zhiguai tradition are actually saying about reality and the nature of ourselves." I loved Izzy's story, and this essay on its inspirations and intentions is fascinating
Kristy Park Kulski@garnetonwinter.bsky.social · 2w agoWe celebrate SILK & SINEW contributors with a look at the inspiration behind @yiizzy.bsky.social Yi Izzy Yu's story, "Pig's Feet" kpkulski.substack.com/p/radical-st... #badhandbooks #silkandsinewantho #folkhorror #authors #bramstokeraward #asiandiasporastorytelling
Not up for eyeball-reads? Have authors read their Hugo-nominated stories to you! Five here, only one to go!
Story Hour@storyhour.bsky.social · 2w agoStory Hour has (so far) hosted five of this year's six Best Short Story nominees for @thehugoawards.bsky.social. Check them out in the thread—and stay posted for one more! We're proud that all these writers were willing to come read their nominated stories! (1/?)
We celebrate SILK & SINEW contributors with a look at the inspiration behind @yiizzy.bsky.social Yi Izzy Yu's story, "Pig's Feet" kpkulski.substack.com/p/radical-st... #badhandbooks #silkandsinewantho #folkhorror #authors #bramstokeraward #asiandiasporastorytelling
We celebrate SILK & SINEW contributors with a look at the inspiration behind @chrishannhorror.bsky.social Christopher Hann's story, "Under Blades We Lie Still"! kpkulski.substack.com/p/the-limbo-... #badhandbooks #silkandsinewantho #folkhorror #authors #bramstokeraward #asiandiasporastorytelling
We celebrate SILK & SINEW contributors with a look at the inspiration behind @geneveflynn.bsky.social 's work, "A Pocket of Soil" & "If I am to Earn My Tether" kpkulski.substack.com/p/a-pocket-o... #badhandbooks #silkandsinewantho #folkhorror #authors #bramstokeraward #asiandiasporastorytelling
Just finished reading this novella, and it is the perfect summertime horror story. Deliciously creepy!
Jen Donohue@authorizedmusings.bsky.social · 3w agoit's not PREORDERS anymore, now it's ORDERING TIME get Amusement Park Arcana TODAY! the daylight horror novella of the summer!! books2read.com/AmusementPar...
fiction isn't (always) autobiography. it is completely possible to write resonant, powerful, realistic characters outside of your life experiences. it just involves a bit of thinking and care. which is also true for characters who do match your experiences.
Had a thoroughly good time with Isabel J Kim's Sublimation: locusmag.com/review/subli...
Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim: Review by Niall Harrison - Locus
Sublimation, Isabel J. Kim (Tor 978-1-25037-679-4, $28.99, 368pp, hc) June 2026. Cover by Jamie Stafford-Hill. Fast-forward a few thousand years, and the world can't be so easily traversed, a reality ...
locusmag.com
Read this thread describing the short stories in @vanessafogg.bsky.social’s House of Illusionists and you will want to devour every single one. And it will be worth it! One of my favorite collections, every piece was amazing (even though the clown story heebied my jeebies).
Rajiv Moté@rajivmote.bsky.social · 7mo agoNext in my queue: Vanessa Fogg's House of Illusionists! I've been looking forward to this.
Also (although I love and am grateful for this entire thread), I’m particularly gratified by this reaction to “Sweetest” because I had so much difficulty placing it with magazines! So I ended up placing it in this book (grateful now how it all turned out)
Rajiv Moté@rajivmote.bsky.social · 7mo agoI was not expecting a harrowing tale of extradimensional, child-eating Clowns in this collection, but "Sweetest" is scary and... hopeful? I love the trope reversals: the monsters are being hunted by an adult who's both benevolent and informed, seeking to heal, not destroy. Studying this for myself.
What a beautiful thread of analysis for my stories! What a gift for a writer!
Rajiv Moté@rajivmote.bsky.social · 7mo agoNext in my queue: Vanessa Fogg's House of Illusionists! I've been looking forward to this.
"Her algorithm thrummed with the adjustment and she nodded. She was getting better at this. Maybe someday she would be able to enjoy the company of a companion. Publicly. Fearlessly." Stunning & such a chilling ending @mynachang.bsky.social flashfictiononline.com/issues/resis...
RESIST: A Flash Fiction Online Anthology - Flash Fiction Online
flashfictiononline.com
